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2013 Late Winter Meetings
The 2013 Late Winter Meetings '''of Water Baseball take place from February 2, 2013 and last until March 16, 2013 if Punxatawney Phil sees his shadow, and until February 18, 2013 if he does not witness said shadow. Many trades and/or signings occur during this time. Either way, Water Baseball meetings take a recess to observe Brad's birthday, and reconveine with the Spring Meetings from April 1-30 (excluding Sundays and Arbor Day). 2/2/13 Three Team Trade New York, New Jersey, and Barrie completed a three team, 11 player trade on February 2, 2013. New York's GM George Cantstandya, after pressure from the owner, finally caved and decided to trade some of his aging superstars for young talent and pitching. New Jersey and Barrie, both serious contenders this year, were willing to part with young talent to improve their teams in 2013. '''Lee Doffman '''was reported to be on the market since December 24, 2012, with Indianapolis, Virginia Beach, New Jersey and Tijuana all reportedly in the mix. Drowners manager Ernesto Jimenez also tried to get Doffman to refer to a cornhole-tossing style as a "Chicago Fold", which is in direct violation to the PWBL rulebook. This would've forced Doffman to play 2013 for Los Angeles. Doffman hit .317 with 7 Home Runs last year for New York, and at the age of 30, is one of their younger players. However, he is also in the final year of his contract. The Kabutos gave up 2B prospect '''Scott Silos, who hit .246/3 in his first season in the PWBL. New York liked Silos' extremely high upside, along with his base stealing ability. New Jersey also gave up longtime Kabuto SP Dontrelle Chillis. Chillis pitched with the Kabutos from 2006-2012, usually out of the #2 spot, after Clyde Duncan. He had All-Star seasons in 2006,2007,2008, and 2009, but he struggled last year with command and ended the season with a 4.55 ERA. With New Jersey's aggressive acquisitions of SPs Warp Pipe Lopez and Doug Tentacles, they had six starting pitchers, meaning one was eventually going to be moved. The Barrie Brios have already made the most changes this offseason, and this trade has added to that significantly. They recieved repeat All-Star 1B Heyotherhugs Texiera, '''along with LF '''Erik Marshallsen. '''Both players are in their early thirties, and are within a year or two of free-agency. Both Texiera (.296/15) and Marshallsen (.273/11) are still in the prime of their careers, and should help Barrie immensly (2012 stats). In return, Barrie has given New York two blue chip prospects, one of which is expected to be '''Paper Mario Spencer, '''the best prospect in the Brios' system. Additionally, the teams have made some minor moves involving backup catchers. Aging '''Jay Peterguy '''goes from New York to Barrie, '''Lou Earthling '''goes from Jersey to New York, and '''Yan Stopmes, '''who can also play the infield and outfield, goes from Barrie to the Kabutos. Finally, New Jersey, who has suddenly been in need of bullpen help, re-acquires RP '''Esmil Rojers '''from Barrie. Rojers pitched very well for New Jersey in 2012 before signing with Barrie this past fall. The trade will be official once players pass their physicals, a multiple choice test, an ink blot test, and successfully create a Mad-Lib, and a 3DMM movie is made about the trade. The trade must also be approved by two of the three commissioners. During all off-season meetings, the three commissioners (Coors Selig, Roger Badell, and David Severe) meet several times a day to vote on pending trades. Selig voted "yes," Badell voted "aye," and Sever voted in favor of the trade. Therefore, it passed unanimously. 2/4/12 4-team trade The Boston Red Solo Cups, Indianapolis Republicans, Mississippi River Rats, and Youngstown Yizzous have completed a four team, 14 player trade on February 4, 2013, just two days after a blockbuster deal involving Barrie, New Jersey, and New York. Boston has been in a free fall since the final month of the 2011 season, and has decided to trade most of its aging assets for young players to bolster the farm system. Indianapolis is expected to be a serious contender in the American League, while Youngstown is making a push to win the NL Central, which appears to be wide open. Miswsissippi is not expected to contend, but they added a couple of youngsters. After years of arrogance because they are from Boston, the Red Solo Cups front office chose now as the time to rebuild. The Cups just signed superstar 1B Tobias Keith to a seven-year deal through the 2019 season, but most of the good players around him have contracts up after 2013. Rather than see these players go into free agency, the Cups opted to get some value back for them. Also, with the Virginia Beach Jelly fish and the emerging Atlantic Ocean Dancers in their division this season, nobody can reasonably expect Boston to contend. The Red Solo Cups traded SS '''Lee Doffbatter and SP Alfredo Sauce to Indianapolis. Indy was trying to acquire Lee Doffman from New York, but lost out in that sweepstakes to the New Jersey Kabutos. Doffbatter, 30, is in the prime of his career and entering the final year of his contract. He has aspirations of playing for San Diego or Hawaii, so this is likely a rent-a-player. Sauce, 32, was projected to be the fourth starter in Boston's decent rotation. He will likely go to the bullpen in Indy due to the Republicans' log jam of starting pitchers. In return, Indy sent Boston SS Xavier GoodStuffForTheTopOfTheOrder and blue chip AAA SP prospect Jynx Jones. Jones, 20, was the Republicans first round pick in 2011 and throws the knuckle ball eha eha. Boston saw upside in GoodStuffetc. but Indianapolis never saw him as more than a #9 hitter. Boston also sent relief pitchers Rob Gronchickenski and Waluigi Sheen to Youngstown. Both of them are expected to add to an already strong bullpen that includes Alec Ace and Wayne Makeit. Youngstown will give Boston many prospects in return. The cornerstone of this deal for Boston is AAA 2B Chain Chomp St. James, the top prospect in the Yizzous' organization. St. James is very fast, much like his brother, Goomba, who plays for the Albuquerque Turkeys, but also hits for power. He's water baseball's version of Robbie Alomar. Youngstown also sent two players to be named later (literally). a AA PTBNL(L) and a A PTBNL(L). It is widely expected that the A player will be 2012 first round draft pick SP Leon Sandcastle, but per WBB rules, he can not be traded until June, one year after he signed his contract. The AA player is a mystery, as the list of players that Boston can choose from is quite large. Youngstown also receives all-star 1B Super Star Peña ''' from Mississippi. Although Peña is one of Mississippi's only good players, he has character issues. He was arrested four times during the calendar year 2012 for diving related incidents including twice for DUI. In the locker room, he likes to jump on teammate Mario Kart's back and sing "da da daaa da da da da da, da da daaa da da da da da," and Kart was considering reporting Peña for sexual harassment. The Yizzous sent RP '''Nick Nasty and A SP prospect Martin Luther Prince, Jr. With the added bullpen help from Boston, Youngstown doesn't really need Nasty anymore, and Mississippi coveted Prince, Jr. as a potential second round pick during the 2011 draft, but Youngstown snatched him up late in the first round. Finally, Indianapolis and Youngstown swapped utility players. Indy sent Youngstown Jeremy Dingoff, while Youngstown sent Indy Chris McSmithwicks. The utility player swap is a slight net-gain for the Republicans, but Youngstown did get more from the other teams than the GOT (grand old team) did. This trade has been completed, pending physicals, approval by at least two of the three PWBL commissioners, and a each team hosting a farewell dinner at Bahama Breeze to thank the players that they are trading for their service to the team. At fairwell dinners, it is customary to drink Dark 'n Stormy (except Minor League players that are not yet 21 of course!)